By CHEVEL JOHNSON and REBECCA SANTANA undefined NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Novelist Ernest J. Gaines, whose poor childhood on a small Louisiana plantation germinated stories of black struggles that grew into universal tales of grace and beauty, has died. He was 86. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which sponsors a literary award in Gaines’ honor, […]
NEW YORK (AP) — In offering tribute to Toni Morrison, speakers from Oprah Winfrey to Fran Lebowitz on Thursday each shared a very different, but equally special portrait of the late Nobel laureate, who died in August at 88. Angela Davis remembered a dear friend who as a Random House editor helped launch her writing […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Jessye Norman was remembered as a force of nature as thousands filled the Metropolitan Opera House on Sunday for a celebration of the soprano, who died Sept. 30 at age 74. Sopranos Renée Fleming, Latonia Moore, Lise Davidsen and Leah Hawkins sang tributes along with mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and bass-baritone Eric […]
The unveiling of a statue honoring the heroic and courageous Rosa Parks drew in a crowd of nearly 400 downtown Montgomery, Alabama on Sunday. The ceremony was held at the downtown site where, on December 1st 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus. According to the […]
CHICAGO (AP) — Rapper Juice WRLD, who launched his career on SoundCloud before becoming a streaming juggernaut and rose to the top of the charts with the Sting-sampled hit “Lucid Dreams,” died early Sunday after a “medical emergency” at Chicago’s Midway International Airport. The rapper, whose legal name was Jarad A. Higgins, was 21. Authorities […]
(RNS) — On a Sunday morning in May of 1969, as clergy processed into the sanctuary of New York’s august Riverside Church, civil rights activist James Forman vaulted into the pulpit to demand $500 million in reparations for the mistreatment of African Americans from white churches and synagogues. At the time, Forman’s interruption represented the […]
ATLANTA (AP) — As a civil rights activist at 25, John Lewis was beaten so badly his skull was fractured and the TV images from an Alabama bridge in the 1960s forced a nation’s awakening to racial discrimination. As a congressman today at 79, Lewis is facing a foe like none before: advanced pancreatic cancer. […]
Rocky “Soulman” Johnson, a WWE Hall of Fame wrestler who became better known as the father of actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, has died. He was 75. WWE issued a statement on Johnson’s death Wednesday night. Johnson and Tony Atlas became the first black world tag team champions in WWE history when they defeated The […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Rep. Ayanna Pressley, whose hair twists have been an inspiration to young girls and part of her personal identity and political brand, said Thursday that she has gone bald due to the auto immune condition alopecia. The freshman Massachusetts Democrat made a touching video for The Root, the African American-focused website, […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — From the red carpet to the main stage, sadness loomed over music’s biggest night Sunday at the arena in downtown Los Angeles where Kobe Bryant played for 20 years for the city’s NBA team. Bryant’s death in a helicopter crash earlier in the day was acknowledged in the opening minutes of […]